Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

The Racial & Economic Justice Fund supports groups that are engaged in direct-action community organizing in the Philadelphia region to promote racial and economic justice at the local, state, national, or international policy levels. You can learn about eligibility criteria here.

2018 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

Amistad Law Project is a prison abolition legal organization that provides legal services to incarcerated people and organizes for community restorative justice. | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Black Lives Matter Philadelphia is an all-volunteer group organizing to build local power to disrupt the structural violence inflicted on Black communities in the forms of extrajudicial state violence, mass incarceration, and economic disinvestment. | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA) is a migrant farmworker and low-wage immigrant worker organization that is building power to win better working and living conditions. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Trans Equity Project is a program of Galaei that advocates for, organizes, and builds the leadership of trans communities and individuals in Philadelphia. | Website | Facebook

Juntos combines leadership development, community organizing, and coalition building to help their community members become leaders in the fight for human rights and impact policies that affect the Latino immigrant community.| Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

PhillySUN is a program of Media Mobilizing Project that fights for long-term education justice across the city of Philadelphia, emphasizing the direct participation of students, parents, school staff, and community members. | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) is a youth-led organization that empowers currently and formerly incarcerated young people through artistic expression, political education, and leadership development. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

2017 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

215 People’s Alliance is a cross-race collaborative dedicated to fighting for equity and justice in Philadelphia at the ballot box and in the street. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

ACT UP Philadelphia works to end the AIDS crisis in Philadelphia by using direct action to address social inequities that impact people living with HIV/AIDS and people at risk of infection. | Website | Facebook

Black and Brown Workers Collective is a direct-action social justice collective that challenges, resists, and dismantles oppressive systems that impact the lives of Black and Brown workers. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Caucus of Working Educators is a social justice caucus of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers determined to energize its union and mobilize students, families, and communities across the city to create the schools Philadelphia children deserve. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Faith in New Jersey is an interfaith, cross-race network of faith leaders and communities working together to advance a social justice agenda at the local, state, and federal levels. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) holds art and poetry workshops for young people who are incarcerated in adult jails and raises awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline while building a youth movement to resist and dismantle it. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Youth United for Change (YUC) is a democratic, youth-led organization whose members are working-class youth committed to ensuring a high-quality education system for all young people. | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

2016 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

15 Now Philly is the local chapter of the national movement for a $15-an-hour living wage and addresses wider equity issues, including fighting construction of Temple’s new stadium in North Philadelphia. | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr

ACT UP Philadelphia working to end the AIDS crisis in Philadelphia, using direct action to address social inequities that impact people living with HIV/AIDS and those at risk of infection. | Website | Facebook

Earth Quaker Action Team(EQAT) is a grassroots group of Quakers and people of diverse beliefs working to build a just and sustainable economy through nonviolent direct action. | Website | Facebook | Twitter

The National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces (NIHHS) promotes healthy environments and advocates for measures to reduce illness and disabilities and foster clean, sustainable cities.

New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia (NSM) is fighting anti-immigrant initiatives, pushing for driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, developing leaders in immigrant communities, and building community across faith, ethnicity, and class to end injustice against immigrants.| Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

Reconstruction Inc. cultivates individuals who were formerly incarcerated into an organized community of leaders working together to transform the criminal justice system, their communities, and themselves.| Website | Facebook

Youth United for Change (YUC) is a youth-led, democratic organization of youth of color and working-class communities committed to ensuring a high-quality education system for all young people.| Website | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

2015 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

15 Now Philly is the local chapter of the national movement to fight for a $15-per-hour living wage. Inspired by the first win of a $15 minimum wage in Seattle, 15 Now Philly is committed to fighting for income equality beyond the $15 minimum wage.

ACT UP Philadelphia uses direct action to work toward an end to the AIDS crisis. They are mobilizing to secure housing for chronically ill people who are homeless and also working to ensure that emergency first responders are trained in harm reduction practices.

National Institute for Healthy Human Spaces advocates for safe, clean neighborhoods in order to reduce illness and disabilities and promote clean, sustainable cities. They are taking direct action against companies that pollute urban waterways.

New Sanctuary Movement is building a community across faiths, ethnicities, and classes to end injustices against immigrants. They are fighting for driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants by bringing the issue before the House Transportation Committee and conducting public workshops.

Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities formed after the Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land successfully created a land bank in Philadelphia. Their Development Without Displacement campaign aims to utilize this newly available land for affordable housing.

Philadelphia Jobs with Justice is a coalition of labor unions, community groups, and religious and student labor solidarity organizations building a movement for workers’ rights and economic justice. They are pressuring the University of Pennsylvania to pay $6 million dollars toward local schools and services.

Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign unites low-income people across color lines to eradicate poverty. They are currently working on a campaign to create a zero-tolerance-for-homelessness policy in Philadelphia.

POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) is a cross-faith network of congregations that takes action on issues affecting low- and moderate-income Philadelphians. POWER is focusing on holding City Council and the mayor accountable for enforcing the 21st Century Minimum Wage policy.

Urban Creators empowers inner-city neighborhoods to transform neglected land into safe spaces that foster connectivity, self-sufficiency, and innovation. Their latest project was creating a mural and park in North Philadelphia.

2014 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

1 Love Movement unites immigrants to fight the discrimination and deportation practices that separate their families and damage their neighborhoods. They are addressing the intersection of the criminal justice and deportation systems and plan to take collective action.

ACT UP Philadelphia uses direct action to work toward an end to the AIDS crisis. They are mobilizing to ensure that Pennsylvania’s next governor makes AIDS treatments affordable and accessible for everyone in the state.

The Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land is a coalition of faith, labor, and community organizations that gives residents a voice in the redevelopment of abandoned properties. They are monitoring the creation of Philadelphia’s land bank to ensure that its implementation is fair.

DreamActivist PA is a group of undocumented youth who disrupt deportation proceedings through civil disobedience. They also connect with community allies and other immigrant advocacy groups to expose illegal detention procedures and fight for fair immigration reform.

Heeding God’s Call is a multi-faith coalition addressing the epidemic of gun violence in Philadelphia. They confront both politicians and individual gun shop owners to pressure them to better regulate gun sales in the city.

The Philadelphia Student Union organizes high school students to fight budget and staff cuts, lack of services, and unfair policies in the School District of Philadelphia. They are currently establishing new high school chapters and pressuring gubernatorial candidates to support more education funding.

POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) is a cross-faith network of congregations that take action on issues affecting low- and moderate-income Philadelphians. POWER is focused on holding city council and the mayor accountable for enforcing the new living-wage standards for subcontracted workers that POWER helped win earlier this year.

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Philadelphia helps restaurant employees take collective action against unfair employers. They are escalating their “Dignity at Darden” campaign to force the Darden Restaurant Group to improve working conditions in popular restaurant chains.

2013 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

Asian Americans United (AAU) combats prejudice against the Asian immigrant community in Philadelphia. Through workshops on institutional violence, AAU empowers students to pressure the School District of Philadelphia to adopt strict policies condemning racial violence.

ACTION United is the state’s largest low- and moderate-income community organization. A founding member of the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, ACTION United will mobilize parents to contest school closures and demand more resources for
Philadelphia schools.

Campaign to Take Back Vacant Land unites over 40 faith, labor, and community groups to push for a policy that gives communities control of vacant lots in their neighborhoods. The coalition’s goal is for City Council to pass a bill creating a Land Bank We Can Trust, so community groups and residents can turn blight into affordable and accessible homes, community gardens, and local businesses that proivide jobs and services.

Philadelphia Jobs with Justice is a coalition of labor unions, community groups, religious congregations, and student labor solidarity organizations. Their Good Neighbors campaign will petition Mayor Nutter to implement a policy requiring non-profits to pay property taxes on any land used for noncharitable purposes in order to fund essential public services.

Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) provides guidance to Philadelphia public high school students as they campaign for quality education. PSU is creating more student-led chapters city-wide in order to build its membership capacity to demand education reform.

Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower & Rebuild (POWER) connects Philadelphia faith congregations to engage in broad-based, multi-issue organizing. POWER is urging the Philadelphia International Airport to adopt living-wage policies for its retail employees and organizing parents to fight for better public education.

Restaurant Opportunities Center of Philadelphia (ROC) is a collective of food workers dedicated to improving wages and working conditions in the Philadelphia restaurant industry. ROC is preparing to launch its Dignity at Darden campaign pressuring the Darden Restaurant Group, one of the nation’s most influential restaurant corporations, to increase wages and paid sick leave for all employees.

Taxi Workers Alliance of PA empowers low-income taxi drivers to better their working conditions. Its members are developing a driver-owned cooperative to free themselves from private dispatch companies that charge significant monthly fees.

2010 Racial & Economic Justice Fund Grantees

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) Philadelphia is an activist organization led by and for people living with HIV/AIDS. ACT UP is campaigning to force the City of Philadelphia to end the waiting list for housing for people living with AIDS.

Asian Americans United empowers Asian Americans in Philadelphia to exercise leadership in their communities and come together to challenge oppression. AAU is continuing an anti-violence campaign in city high schools that began following the harassment of Asian students in South Philadelphia High School in 2009.

Disabled in Action works to mobilize people with disabilities to end housing, transportation, and employment discrimination. They are working to get the state of Pennsylvania to offer more independent living options for people with disabilities. They are also working on a campaign to close the Philadelphia Nursing Home.

Eastern North Philadelphia Coalition organizes neighborhoods to combat gentrification. They are working on turning over public land to a community-based land trust, which will guarantee access to affordable homes, community gardens, and local farms for low- income residents.

Heeding God’s Call encourages faith communities to participate in campaigns to stem the flow of guns into communities across the state of Pennsylvania. Locally, they are helping communities to lead campaigns for gun violence prevention, including working with youth and lobbying to change state laws.

The Philadelphia Security Officers Union is dedicated to improving workplace conditions by educating security guards about their rights and enabling them to lead direct-action campaigns. They are working to get a raise for members who work at the Philadelphia Art Museum and expanding the union to include guards at the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the Delaware River Water front Corporation.

Taxi Workers Alliance of PA organizes Philadelphia’s taxi drivers to work collectively toward improving health, safety, and overall working conditions. Their focus this year is on changing the law to require that taxi workers in Philadelphia are offered worker’s compensation.

Youth United for Change (YUC) empowers young people to bring about institutional change within their high schools through chapters at five city high schools. This year, they will work on strengthening a sixth chapter made up of young people who have been pushed out of school, are out of school or who attend alternative schools.